More Info:

Security risks involved in using API-Keys are listed below: • API keys are simple encrypted strings • API keys do not identify the user or the application making the API request • API keys are typically accessible to clients, making it easy to discover and steal an API key Because of these potential risks, Google recommends using the standard authentication flow instead of API Keys. However, there are limited cases where API keys are more appropriate. For example, if there is a mobile application that needs to use the Google Cloud Translation API, but doesn’t otherwise need a backend server, API keys are the simplest way to authenticate to that API. Once a key is stolen, it has no expiration, meaning it may be used indefinitely unless the project owner revokes or regenerates the key. Rotating API keys will reduce the window of opportunity for an access key that is associated with a compromised or terminated account to be used. API keys should be rotated to ensure that data cannot be accessed with an old key that might have been lost, cracked, or stolen.

Risk Level

Medium

Address

Security, Reliability

Compliance Standards

CISGCP, CBP

Triage and Remediation

Remediation

To remediate the misconfiguration “Ensure API Keys Are Rotated Periodically” in GCP using GCP console, follow the below steps:

  1. Open the GCP console and navigate to the IAM & Admin page.
  2. Click on the “Service accounts” tab.
  3. Select the service account for which you want to rotate the API keys.
  4. Click on the “Edit” button for that service account.
  5. Scroll down to the “Keys” section and click on “Add Key” button.
  6. Select the type of key you want to add. You can choose between JSON and P12 formats.
  7. Click on the “Create” button to generate a new API key.
  8. Once the new key is generated, download it and store it in a secure location.
  9. Delete the old API key that needs to be rotated.
  10. Repeat the above steps periodically to rotate the API keys at regular intervals.

By following the above steps, you can ensure that API keys are rotated periodically for the selected service account in GCP.

Additional Reading:

  • [There is no option to automatically regenerate (rotate) API keys periodically.](There is no option to automatically regenerate (rotate) API keys periodically.)